Dragon's Cusp
Dragon's Cusp (Japanese: ドラゴンのカスプ Doragon No Kasupu) is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console (later released on other consoles), released in ca. late 1987. It is the first game in the Dragon's Cusp series. In the game, the player controls a square avatar whose quest is to explore an open world environment to find a magical chalice and return it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roaming enemies: three dragons that can eat the avatar and a bat that randomly steals and hides items around the game world. Gameplay In Dragon's Cusp, the player's goal is to recover the Enchanted Chalice that an evil magician has stolen and hidden in the kingdom and return it to the Golden Castle. The kingdom includes two other castles (White and Black) and various obstacles and mazes within them. Further, the kingdom is guarded by three dragons, Yorgle, Grundle, and Rindle, that protect various items in the game and will try to chase and eat the player's avatar. There is also a bat that can roam across the kingdom freely, carrying a single item (which can include the player's avatar or a dragon) around; the bat was to be named Knubberrub but the name did not make it into the manual. The bat has two states, agitated and non-agitated; when in the agitated state, the bat will either pick up or swap what it currently carries with an object in the present room, eventually returning to the non-agitated state where it will not pick up an object. The bat continues to fly around even if not present on the player's current screen and may continue moving or swapping around objects. The player's avatar is represented by a simple square shape that can move within and between rooms, each represented by a single screen. While Robinett originally intended for all rooms to be bidirectionally connected, a few such connections (including one inside the White Castle) were unidirectional, which he considered to be bugs. Such problems were explained away as "bad magic" in the game's manual. The player's goal is to find objects to help defeat the dragons and recover the Chalice. These include various keys that open the castles, a magnet that pulls items towards the player, a magic bridge that the player can use to cross certain obstacles, and a sword which can be used to defeat the dragons. Only one object can be carried at a time. The player can be eaten by a dragon if it is caught in its "bite" cycle, at which point the avatar is stuck in the dragon's stomach. At this point, the player can opt to restore their avatar's life instead of completely restarting the game, reappearing at the Golden Castle while leaving all objects where they were last left, but this will also regenerate any dragon previously killed as well. The ability to reset the player's avatar without resetting the entire game is considered the first known "continue game" option in video games. The game offers three different skill levels. Level 1 is an easier difficulty, removing the bat and one of the dragons and simplifying the room layout. Level 2 is the full version of the game, with the various objects appearing in set positions at the start of the game. Level 3 is similar to Level 2, but the location of the objects is randomized to provide a more challenging game. Sequels Alongside with the first one, Dragon's Cusp also has sequels since it was released, this includes: * Dragon's Cusp II (released in 1988) (released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, SEGA Master System, PC-8801, MSX/MSX2/MSX2+, and Sharp X68000) * Dragon's Cusp III (released in 1990) (released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, SEGA Master System and the Genesis, PC-8801/9801, MSX/MSX2/MSX2+/turboR, the TurboGrafx-16, and Sharp X68000, as well as for MS-DOS computers (including FM Towns) and Macintosh computers) (A System 7 version was later released) * Dragon's Cusp IV (released in 1991) (released for the SNES, the Genesis, the PC-9801 series, the TurboGrafx-16, and X68000 and MSX2/MSX2+/turboR, as well as for MS-DOS (including FM Towns) computers and Macintosh computers) Dragon's Cusp Plus In 1991, a remake called '''Dragon's Cusp Plus '''was released, it replaces the original blocky graphics with RPG-based tilesets and introduced new and improved sounds and music. For the FM Towns version, music are now done in an orchestra format. In 1994, Dragon's Cusp Plus was also released on the SEGA CD and the PC Engine CD-ROM² addon. It features the same sound and music in a new format. This version was also released on Virtual Console in 2014. Legacy An official screensaver was released for MS-DOS, Windows and Macintosh computers in 1993, this screensaver can also be turned into an interactive game as well. In 2015, this game was released on Virtual Console. Trivia This game has a '''CN '''trademark symbol on it, it was unknown if Cartoon Network owned Dragon's Cusp or not. Category:Cartoon Network Games Category:NES Games Category:SEGA Genesis Games Category:Games based on TV Show Category:SNES Games Category:MS-DOS Games Category:NEC PC-8801 games Category:NEC PC-9801 games Category:Mac Games Category:Games released as screensavers Category:SEGA Master System Games Category:Sharp X68000 Games Category:Sharp X1 games Category:MSX games Category:FM Towns games Category:FM-7 games Category:PC Engine games Category:TurboGrafx-16 games Category:SEGA CD Games Category:Virtual Console games Category:Games by Ebon Category:Dragon's Cusp series